ARTE Distribution

Takeshi Kitano is an international icon. We know the actor, the multi-award-winning filmmaker, but many ignore his double personality: the crazy TV star, the street kid from Tokyo close to the Yakuza, and the political satirist who blasted taboos!

Can we dream of a better guide to introduce us to the cultural history of Japan?

First woman to have won the Best Director Oscar, obsessed with the violence that underlies all of her cinematographic work, Kathryn Bigelow's portrait also tells a story of violence in the United States.

"I've always seen violence as political. I see it as a power strategy" Kathryn Bigelow is right. That' s the way it is, death is cinematic.
The atmosphere is getting tense in the United States. Violence is on the rise. Up until now, it was present on screen. Now it seems to be overflowing, invading reality. One filmmaker has seen this phenomenon before others. Whether we like it or not, Hollywood remains our dream machine. And when we take a closer look, the vast majority of the stories that these blockbusters tell us are made of violence: crime, torture, war, rape and murder, which populate these imagination machines.

He is the only actor in the history of cinema to have won three Oscars. Known for the dramatic intensity of his roles – which are as striking as they are diverse (aristocrat, petty thug, outcast or criminal) – for directors such as Martin Scorsese or Steven Spielberg.

He is also known as one of the most selective international actors. He has announced his intention to retire from acting after the shooting of Phantom Thread in 2017. Daniel Day-Lewis is a visceral and uncompromising actor: in just 20 films, he never stopped pushing the envelope in his performances. He had more than a sterling work ethic; he poured his blood, sweat and tears in his craft. It was a way for him to escape from a family legacy that had become too heavy to bear. This film harks back to the roots of a family mythology, in which the actor is the last hero, in spite of himself.

Anthony Perkin’s face and name remain familiar to a younger 21st century audience, fond of Giallo and slashers. But he has long struggled in the shadow of his most famous character, Norman Bater – the seria killer in Alfred Hitschcock’s masterpiece, “Psycho”.

Officially presented as the most exciting new star since James Dean on the poster of “Friendly Persuasion”, Anthony Perkins has attracted the attention of such prestigious filmmakers as George Cukor, William Wyler, Stanley Kramer, Anthony Mann, Robert Mulligan, Jules Dassin, René Clément, Claude Chabrol, John Huston, Ken Russell, Sidney Lumet and Orson Welles. And the list of his co-stars does not pale in comparison, with names such as Gary Cooper, Brigitte Bardot, Audrey Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Sophia Loren, Gregory Peck, Jane Fonda, Marlene Jobert, Paul Newman and Roger Moore. His filmography ended up being rather impressive for an actor who was so abusively reduced to his only role for Alfred Hitchcock. We also discover that he was an amazing crooner.
His greatest success, “Moonlight Swim”, will be taken up by Elvis Presley. He even directed “Psycho III” – proof of his reconciliation with his favorite bogeyman.

A small Sicilian immigrant became in the 1930s a director with dazzling success. He believes in the American dream. No matter what America is in fact inward looking, Capra does not hesitate to twist reality in order to become one with what the country dreams of itself.

A strange echo today...

The first filmmaker was a woman and her name is Alice Guy. Even though she shot the first fiction film in history, her work remained in the shadows...

With nearly a thousand films, the most abundant career of her time which she was the only one to carry out on both sides of the Atlantic, this pioneer was literally wiped out by film historians during her lifetime. This film paints a fascinating portrait of an ardent and visionary woman, who has never stopped conquering new territories, only to end up with one last dream: to regain her destiny. It finally gives her the floor to deliver her version of history and regain her place in history.
 
"Alice Guy was an exceptional director, with a rare sensitivity, a remarkably poetic eye and a great instinct [...]. She has written, directed and produced over a thousand films. And yet, she was forgotten by the industry she helped create.” Martin Scorsese

From her precocious status as a sex symbol to her consecration as a filmmaker, Jodie Foster's story is about a feminist struggle, albeit atypical, fought on and off the screen. This film sets out to retrace her remarkable journey within the Hollywood industry. 

A cerebral, French-speaking woman among Hollywood bimbos: the Jodie Foster enigma is a tough one to solve. Her early years tell a story that is diametrically opposed to her current image – she used to be a girl over influenced by images and the film industry.
In her most beloved movies, whether Silence of the Lambs or Panic Room, she is the embodiment of uniqueness: a cold beauty, an icon defying all the codes of Hollywood glamor. Beautiful but never passive, heroic but not masculine, sexual but not eroticized: she cultivates her subtle, paradoxical androgyny from film to film.

After a career spanning 40 years, Tom Cruise does not seem to have developed one wrinkle. His legendary smile has dominated many blockbuster productions. This film will try to unveil the man behind the film icon.

Although he was, for a long time, Hollywood's highest paid star, Tom Cruise is also a secret and tormented actor whose break-ups and Scientology beliefs provide regular fodder for the tabloids. 

This documentary explores the iconic Johnny Depp roles, from Edward Scissorhands to Donnie Brasco and Jack Sparrow. What is behind this intriguing Hollywood star?

Perhaps because the actor's life seems straight out of a movie where death, love, drugs, motels, palaces, Marlon Brando and Iggy Pop are all part of the ensemble. These multiple layers, sometimes contradictory, are found in his most iconic interpretations: often poetic and always offbeat anti-heroes: genuine American anomalies.

For the first time, one of Hollywood’s greatest stars tells his own story, in his own words. From a childhood of poverty to global fame, Cary Grant, the ultimate self-made star, explores his own screen image and what it took to create it.

Cary Grant is one of the most enduring icons of the Hollywood golden era. Described by the film historian and biographer David Thomson as the greatest screen actor of all time, Grant is without doubt the actor whose style as the suave and elegant man-in-the-suit has remained iconic and modern: his image is still used in advertising and inspired Don Draper in Mad Men.
 
The 85' version, screened during Cannes Film Festival, & produced for Showtime Networks, the BBC and Arte, is available to watch here:
https://vimeo.com/279835531
Please contact your sales agent to get the password to access the video.

2018: Selected at the ARTFIFA - Festival international du Film sur l'Art. 2017: offical selection at the International Film Festival of Edinburgh (Scotland); Cannes Classic Selection at the International Film Festival of Cannes (France).

This fascinating portrait is for anyone who wants to know more about the man behind the mask. By the end of the film, you will view this famous French icon in a totally different light.  Delon speaks in a series of surprising interviews, spanning nearly 50 years.

A portrait of Alain Delon that sets out to remove the masks of this defence-ridden, international icon - for the very first time.The portrait focuses entirely on its main subject - it is “pure Delon”, with no other interviewees. Via numerous film excerpts, it follows the actor’s path right from the start. At the end of this breathtaking journey, a new vision emerges: Alain Delon, the man of 87 movies and the most handsome face in French cinema, remains a mystery. 

The word "Borsalino" today designates a felt hat. The Borsalino family brand has become a household name, like that of Tupperware, Kleenex or Walkman.

The quality felt hat, born in a small family factory in Alessandria in the 1850s, rose in status from manufactured object to veritable international myth when the craftsmanship of a small provincial town met the Hollywood dream. This film recounts the history of the manufacture of this myth, which has close ties to the history of cinema in the early 20th century.
 
Also available: feature-length version (79').